diff --git a/src/lib/common/file.c b/src/lib/common/file.c
index fd6e8c0f..d626f0cd 100644
--- a/src/lib/common/file.c
+++ b/src/lib/common/file.c
@@ -530,9 +530,7 @@ ef_init_chr(int type, size_t size, ptrdiff_t name_offs)
     struct empfile *ep = &empfile[type];
     char *p;
 
-    for (p = ep->cache;
-	 *((char **)(p + name_offs)) && **((char **)(p + name_offs));
-	 p += size) ;
+    for (p = ep->cache; *((char **)(p + name_offs)); p += size) ;
     ep->cids = ep->fids = (p - ep->cache) / size;
 }